Should have stayed in dry-dock longer!

Oosterdam Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Oosterdam

24 Night Adriatic & Mediterranean Dream (Rome Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 18, 2016

Ship: Oosterdam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 5186

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

We were on the ship after it spent 2 weeks in dry dock.  It should have stayed there another week or two to finish the job instead of using our cruise to try to finish it.  The first 2 days of our cruise the ship was filthy from the construction and the new carpet was shedding so bad and it looked and smelled terrible.  They were adding 10 new rooms on during our cruise so because of the noise they kept the pool covered most of the time making it unusable because of the heat!  Problems with hot water in the shower the first 2 days, and the toilet wouldn't flush several times.  We also sailed 6 hours late due to problems with the ship.

They did not refurbish the rooms so the carpet was dirty and had not been vacuumed.  The balcony deck, window/railing were filthy most of the time, also.  I don't appreciate the cruise line using my well paid for vacation to finish their construction!  The Le Cirque experience was not worth the extra money by any means.  We tried to order 3 different wines from the wine list that were "not in stock"!!  Why have them on the wine list?  The beverage manager we spoke to about it, JJ, was like, "sorry, oh well!"  Never offered another wine at the same price or anything!!  $100+ wines by the way! 

The rest of the staff on board was very nice and accommodating, though.  The food was good and we enjoyed eating in the dining room!  There was a wonderful salad bar where the staff made it for you and other fresh alternatives, like an omelet station, as I am not a fan of buffets.  Loved our itinerary and was very surprised how clean, beautiful and friendly Turkey was!  We felt very safe there!  Comedian was funny, band in the BB King Lounge was good, but other entertainment was lacking.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
JJ the beverage manager was a jerk. Everyone else was great.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Refurbish the ship on your own dime, not ours! The ship was filthy the first couple of days with electrical wires hanging down and things not working properly.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
It was not that clean when we boarded, and it took a week for them to finally clean some of the balcony, but never cleaned the deck of the balcony. Cabin was bigger than most as well as the bathroom. Balcony size was great! Huge for a cruise ship--loved that part!

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Iraklion (Heraklion), Crete

5 out of 5

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5
Loved it! Walked the wall of the old city!!

Split, Croatia

5 out of 5

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5

Corfu, Greece

5 out of 5

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

5 out of 5
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2 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

CapeCodGirl    8 years ago

We were on Oosterdam in January. Before dry dock. Also toilet flushing issues plus filthy sofa in verandah stateroom. We love HAL for so many reasons but they need to really overhaul their older ships. Sorry for your troubles.

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